Come to this Part 1
by sammyjayne74
Summary: After the events in Icon, the past comes back to haunt Daniel when Leda arrives at the SGC. Contains original female character. Totally an AU.


Author:DannyNSamGirl  
Fic: Come to this  
Rating: T  
Pairing: Daniel/Shelley  
Notes: After the events in Icon, the past comes back to haunt Daniel.

Part 1 of 4

Finally it has come to this! She'd spent the last 2 hours, packing. Two holdalls sat on the hallway floor, near the door. She wanted to get it done before he came home. Choosing what to take hadn't been hard. It was mostly her work things, laptop and a few files she needed. Then there were Mia's things, toys and clothes. Shelley could leave most of her clothes behind; she wouldn't be in the mood for partying after what she was about to do. Instead she'd packed tops, jeans, etc and hardly any personal belongings, except a picture of her and Mia. Nothing else.

Shelley had sat on her bed for half an hour, looking around the room. There hadn't been many happy memories lately. It hadn't been happy since he came back from that planet. Not at the time, she didn't know or understand why. Until she had arrived, Leda! It had been like a slap in the face to her. She'd tried not to act like the jealous wife, but it wasn't easy. Seeing how they were around each other. It had torn her apart, now the fall out of that, was tearing her family apart.

She picked up her coat from off the back of the couch and began to lift one bag. Mia was at the child minders. She felt it best not to have her there; it would be less painful for her and for Shelley too.

Her head turned quickly as the front door opened. He was back early. The holdall fell from her hand and back onto the hall floor. Shelley leant down, picking them up, moving quickly towards the door.

'You weren't even going to say goodbye?' he asked.

Shelley turned slowly, seeing the hurt in his eyes. She couldn't help it. She needed some time away, a few days to get her head together.

'Don't Daniel. I'm not doing this to hurt you.'

'Then why?'

Shelley dropped the holdall and turned around completely.

'I need some time to myself, to think. After... after you hurt me, what did you expect me to do?'

'I don't know. I thought we could work this out, we love each other.' Daniel said.

He was stating the obvious, but Shelley still felt hurt and betrayed over his confused feelings for Leda. Although, Daniel had declared his love for Shelley, to her in the infirmary at that moment she had been brought in, Shelley was still confused. How could he love her and have feelings for another woman? She didn't understand.

'Maybe you need some time to think. If I'm really what you want.'

Daniel moved towards her, out stretching his hand towards hers, but she backed away.

'Daniel,' she whispered.

The last thing she wanted was for her moment of clarity to become confused as he touched her. In her mind, this was the right thing to do. What she needed to do, if they were ever to save their marriage and their family.

But Daniel took no noticed and moved his hand towards her face, gently brushing it against her cheek.

'I love you.' he stated.

'I know. And I love you. Please, just let me go!'

There was no way that Daniel wanted to lose her over this. His family were the most important thing to him and he had nearly thrown it all away over one little kiss. Now, in the days that had followed, he was about to lose those he loved because of his stupidity.

'I don't want too.'

Shelley looked away. She didn't want him to see the tears that were beginning to swell up in her eyes. She had already cried so much over the last few days, and she didn't want to feel weak any longer. Her decision to leave had been made in the moments when she had felt strong; felt that she could do this. But now, seeing him, feeling him so close to her, Shelley wasn't sure if she could go through with it.

'Please, Danny.'

Shelley picked up the holdall again and reached out to open the door.

'What about Mia? When am I going to see her again?'

'Whenever you want too! Just let me know. I won't stop you from seeing her just because I can't bare to look at you right now.'

Daniel felt his heart jump into his mouth as he heard that statement. She hated him so much for what he'd done. Not more than he hated himself at this very moment. His revelation to her, that she and Leda looked similar, hadn't helped matters. It had only made Shelley more hurt. That he could just simply be attracted to someone because they looked like his wife. It was supposed to comfort Shelley, but nothing right now could do that.

Daniel looked around the house. It was so quiet without his daughter around. Usually she would be coming home from the child minders right about now. He tried to get home as often as he could, work permitting. If he wasn't off world and didn't need to be on base, he would work from home. Trying to give her as much of a stable family life as he could. Not that lately, home life had been stable. Not with the silence between her parents.

As he looked around, he noticed something on the floor near his feet. Daniel bent down, picking up a little cuddly crocodile, one of his daughters toys. He missed them so much, already.

Shelley had picked up Mia on her way to Jack's. The toddler had cried all the way there, insisting that she wanted to see her daddy. Shelley had practically been in tears when Jack opened the door to them both, helping Shelley inside with the buggy and their belongings.

Shelley put Mia down for her afternoon nap. She was playing up, not understanding why she was staying at uncle Jack's. This wasn't what she'd wanted. She hadn't wanted to leave. When she'd left the house, Shelley had sat in her car and cried.

**1 Week Later**

Shelley stood by the porch doors, looking into the garden. Her mind had been on Daniel since she'd left. He was supposed to pick up Mia at any moment and she was confused. There was no denying that she was hurt and angry but still loved him. That's why it hurt so much. That he could put their marriage in jeopardy because of one little kiss. Shelley knew that maybe she was over reacting, but what else could she have done? Daniel kissed another woman and had feelings for her. How else was she supposed to react?

Her head turned as she heard the doorbell. She saw Jack emerge from out of the kitchen to answer it. It would have been hard for her to tell him what had happened. To tell him that she didn't have the perfect marriage after all. So she hadn't told him anything. Her marriage had been less than perfect since Daniel came back. And she found that hard to come to terms with. That before they were happy and now they seemed just to be going through the motions. Maybe all that time apart had just been too long for their relationship to recover.

Shelley looked back towards the garden, keeping an eye on Mia who was playing outside. Jack opened the door. There was silence for a moment. Shelley made the mistake of turning around, seeing Daniel stepping into the house.

"I'll go fetch the little rugrat," Jack said. "Before she digs up my entire garden."

Shelley didn't know what to say. All she kept thinking was how much he'd hurt her. Every time she saw him she couldn't stop thinking about it. When she closed her eyes all she could see was him kissing Leda. She shook her head, trying to escape her vision again. Jack came back into the house, with Mia next to him.

The toddler moved across the room towards her father.

"I want her back by 5 tomorrow." Shelley said.

"I thought she was going to stay the weekend, I've made plans..." Daniel said, bending down to pick her up.

Shelley shook her head.

"No, Daniel. I want her back by five tomorrow."

"Shelley, don't you think that's…." Jack said, butting in.

"No I don't. Five o'clock or I'll come and fetch her myself." Shelley snapped back.

She turned quickly, storming off into the garden.

"I'll talk to her." Jack said.

"I just want to spend time with my daughter."

"I know. Just give her a few days and she'll calm down."

Daniel knew that it would take more than a few days for her to calm down. Most of her things were missing from the house and the rest were in the spare room. He'd offered to move in to it, but she had insisted. Now the house seemed empty.

He'd ruined everything.

She stood on the decking at the back of the house, turning her head slightly as she heard Daniel's car pull away.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Jack asked.

The redhead sighed.

"It doesn't matter!"

"Of course it matters, Shell. You've walked out, taken Mia away."

"I won't stop him from seeing her. I've already told him that."

"But why walk out in the first place. What the hell happened?"

Shelley turned around. She had no idea how he'd react when she told him. That her marriage was almost certainly over! She pulled out a chair and sat down.

"I knew that there was something wrong. I just ignored it. I didn't want to think that…"

"What?"

"That there could be someone else."

She sank down in the chair.

"When she arrived on the base, I could see that there was something between them."

Jack was confused! Just more confused than normal.

"Who are we talking about?" he asked, sitting in the chair opposite her.

Shelley took in a deep breath. She didn't want to say her name; she didn't even want to think about her.

"Leda," she said.

Saying her name made her think about what she had seen.

"I saw the way they were around each other. But I didn't want to believe it. How could I think that he would, that he would have feelings for someone else?"

"What!"

For the first time since she'd seen them together, she'd said it out loud. That her husband had feelings for another woman!

"After what we've been through, I wanted to ignore it. To put it at the back of my mind like it didn't exist. But I couldn't. I couldn't stop thinking about it."

"What did you do?" Jack asked.

He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I confronted him about it. I thought he'd tell me that I was imagining it. I never expected him to tell me the truth. That he had feelings for her."

Shelley stood up, pushing out the chair from under her and paced the decking.

"What was I supposed to do?"

"I don't know!"

"Ever since he came back from that planet, he was different. After he told me, I was certain that nothing had happened, that nothing would happen. But…"

"What?"

That was all Jack could seem to say. He knew his sister pretty well and knew that she just wanted to talk about it. That she needed to let it out.

"When we went back to the planet, I had to talk to her. Cause from what I could see, it was…."

She couldn't say it.

"…That she."

"Shelley!"

"She wanted…"

Shelley stopped in mid-sentence, turning and heading back into the house. Jack stood, following her.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I saw them, I…I saw them kissing. Saw him kissing her."

"SON OF A ……"

"Don't…" Shelley said.

She hadn't wanted this to happen. She wanted to keep the reason why she left a secret. Working on the base and being who she was meant everybody knew more about her life than probably she did. But his, Shelley didn't want anyone to know about this, especially Jack.

"What the hell did you expect me to say? You tell me that Daniel cheated on you and…"

"I never said he cheated on me. I don't know if anything else happened!" Shelley said.

She slumped down on the sofa, shaking her head.

"I didn't stay long enough to ask, I just ran. By the time he'd come home…"

"You were getting ready to leave."

Shelley nodded. That had been a week ago and deep down she wanted to go home! For them to be a family again! It wasn't that she couldn't trust him; it was that she didn't want to be hurt again.

"I couldn't stay, not until I know that I'm what he wants."

Jack still couldn't believe that Daniel would treat Shelley like this. He wasn't pleased, infact he could kill him.

About 7pm, Shelley had gotten most of her work done. The house seemed quiet. She missed being home. Working in her study, listening out in case Mia woke up. Then looking at the clock every five minutes, waiting for Daniel to phone, saying that he was on his way home. He would always call just before he left the base. If he got back too late, then she would do her best to wait up. Most of the time, she would fall asleep on his side of the bed so he would have to move her slowly, usually letting her sleep against him. Shelley thought that maybe they were stuck in a routine. That's why he had looked somewhere else.

Half way through her work, she realised that she'd forgotten an important file. It wasn't crucial but if she wanted to finish her report by the morning, she needed it straight away.

Shelley liked the base at night, quiet, peaceful. Nothing usually happened, if there were lucky. She found the file in her lab and decided that whilst she was here that she would check on Sam. She'd been injured the day before. Just cuts and bruises, but she was being kept in over night, just as a precaution.

Shelley turned the corner, unaware that someone was coming the other way. The redhead looked up, coming face to face with the woman that had been her rival for Daniel's affection.

"Leda."

Shelley didn't know what to say. She hadn't seen her since seeing her with Daniel. The memory of that moment just wouldn't leave her mind. Every time she closed her eyes, she'd think about it. Leda looked away, she couldn't even make eye contact.

"I thought that you would have been gone by now?" Shelley asked.

"We are leaving now."

Leda moved passed Shelley, following the sf that had been escorting her. She stopped for a moment, turning around.

"He loves you. I could not compete with that," she said. "You have to believe that. There is no one else but you in his heart."

Shelley didn't want what to say. She watched Leda disappear around the corner, her words still ringing in her ear. Nothing made sense. Shelley was still unsure, still angry over what he had done. But maybe there was a chance that she could forgive him. She still loved him, was still in love with him.

For half an hour, Shelley sat with Sam, talking about her accident and how things were going on base, trying to avoid her crisis. She was there to offer support to her friend. The phone rang and neither of them took any notice. A nurse sitting at the desk in the corner picked it up.

"No, Dr Jackson, Dr Brightman isn't here."

Shelley turned and looked up, curious.

"What's wrong? What are her symptoms? Calm down, calm down."

Shelley jumped off the edge of Sam's bed, running over to the nurse's station. The nurse looked up, seeing the concern on Shelley's face.

"She has a cold," Shelley said.

"Place a damp cloth on her forehead to keep her temperature down and give her some aspirin. If she's still the same in a few hours, bring here in and we'll take a look at her." the nurse said.

Shelley turned around, heading out of the infirmary. She knew that she shouldn't have let her stay the night. Mia was still recovering from a cold and she hadn't wanted to let her out of her sight.

She let herself in, almost giving Daniel a heart attack when she appeared in the hallway. On the way over, she had stopped off at Jack's and had picked up Mia's medicine. It was her own fault; she thought that Daniel wouldn't need it.

Shelley closed Mia's door behind her, the toddler now fast asleep in her bed. Daniel paced the living room, the concerned father. He looked up as he saw her.

"She's fine, she's asleep." Shelley said, placing the medicine bottle on the table outside her daughter's room.

"Thank god." he said, smiling.

Daniel looked at her. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about her all day. A few weeks ago, they had been a family, until he had ruined it all.

"I should get going. I told Jack I wouldn't be long."

"Do you have to go?" Daniel asked.

"I think its best, Daniel. I don't think I should stay here."  
"I want you too."

Part of her wanted to stay, the part of her that loved him but there was also that part of her that couldn't forget what he had done. Some people would think that it was only a kiss, that it didn't mean anything. But it was the fact that he had feeling for Leda that he cared about her. That was something that Shelley just couldn't get over in a few days.

"I saw her," Shelley said, unexpected. "She was on her way home."

"I see." Daniel said.

He had no idea where this conversation was going.

"I didn't realise how pretty she was."  
"Shelley, don't!"

But she couldn't.

"I can understand why you would be attracted to her."

"Don't do this Shelley. It doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters. I just need to know why, Daniel? Wasn't i good enough?" she asked.

Daniel shook his head.

"You're more than good enough. Maybe you're too good for me, maybe i don't deserve you."

He moved closer towards her, watching as she turned away from him.

"I know i don't deserve you to forgive me."

Shelley wanted to forgive him.

"Do you love her?" she asked.

"No. There's no one else but you. There never has been!"

She turned around to see him standing behind her. Shelley looked up, being confronted with a smile and a hand against her face, brushing away her hair. Daniel ran the back of his hand across her cheek. Shelley instinctively closed her eyes at his touch. She smiled, her heart pounding. A force was pulling them together. But this wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want to feel this; she wanted to stay angry with him. Shelley didn't want him to touch her the way he was touching her, making her feel like nothing had happened.

Shelley pulled away only to be pulled back slowly as Daniel wrapped his arm around her. Her breath was deep, her resolve weakening.

"Dan..."

She never even got to finish his name, before his lips were pressed against hers, softly. The wall around her had been broken down with one touch of his lips. Daniel pulled her closer against him, his fingers trailing through her hair. Shelley's body tingled as she responded. Her breathing slowed as her heart took over and their kiss softened. Daniel had missed the feel of her lips, the way she tasted. It was as though she had never been away. Daniel felt her hands on his chest as she pushed him away.

"I can't. I can't. When you kiss me all I can see is you kissing her... I can't... I can't forget. I can't forgive you."

Shelley turned quickly, picking up her coat and left. Daniel stood there in the hallway, watching as she slammed the door behind her. Now he knew that he'd lost her forever...

... To be continued


End file.
